1. Atwell's In the Middle & Minilesson Step 1
Ideas for possible minilessons/microteaching:
How to edit/tips for editing
Treatment of titles, different markings for different types of passage/reading
Keeping a consistent point of view - first or third
2. Andrews' LEA
Chapter 3
The main takeaway that I really liked in Chapter Three was that language is a social event. This means that students need to actively talk in the classroom! I think this really relates back to the point from the Peterson article. We can't teach from trite examples in a workbook or language textbook. Students need to how to use language in their real lives. It's hard to see the application from an example of a situation that they will probably never find themselves in. I like that Andrews points out how adolescents see school as a social event. If a teacher can harness all of this social power into a positive way, like learning language, they will have a powerful tool when planning lessons. That teacher can count on being able to have discussions with his/her students and spontaneous interactions that will help lead to truths and lessons about language.
Chapter 5
I chose Chapter Five because in Dr. Reaser's class I found words and word formation extremely interesting. It's cool how we can transform words like google and imdb (internet movie database) from a noun naming a website into a verb that means the action of using the website. There is also a word formation process called coinage. This describes where a word naming a specific product becomes generalized to describe every product that is similar. For example, many people call all types of lip balm, Chapstick, where Chapstick is actually a brand name. People have generalized chapstick and made it into a new word. This is also true of tupperware (plastic container - primarily for food), kleenex (facial tissue), and expo (dry erase marker).
Exploration: Variant Stress
CONduct/conDUCT - The first is a noun; second is a verb.
conTENT/CONtent - The first word is a mood; the second is a noun.
conTRACT/CONtract - The first is a verb; second is a noun.
EXploit/exPLOIT - First is an noun; second is a verb.
subJECT/SUBject - The first is a verb; second is a noun.
PERfume/perFUME - The first is a noun; the second is a verb.
conVICT/CONvict - The first is a verb; the second is the noun.
PREsent/preSENT - The first is a noun; the second is a verb.
After examining these word pairs, I began to realize that each word in the pair was a noun and the other was a verb. I found it interesting that the nouns were all words where the emphasis lies on the first syllable. The verbs were all words with the emphasis on the second syllable.
3. Sentence Composing: Sentence Expanding
p. 98 Practice 2
1. At the funeral, a woman sang.
2. With enthusiasm, warriors on high stilts beat upraised swords against their shields.
3. Outside of the house and with trepidation, the boy followed the do, whose anxious pace slowed from age as they went.
4. Mary asked no more questions but waited in the darkness of her corner, muttering.
5. A large woman, groaning, got out and waddled over to them.
6. Ima Dean, with a huge bag of yellow and red wrapped candies, was sitting on the floor sniffing and inspecting them.
7. They were standing there in front of the loed door in the nearly empty plane, shivering, when the man...arrived, skipping inside.
8. He walked on, pursued by a pack of first graders.
9. Plagued by tears, he held his temples desperately with both hand sand was wretchedly sick.
10. He was a broad, bandy-legged little man with a walrus mustache, square hands, slumped over like a dead tree and wracked with nervous tremors.
p. 103
1. We passed two children, sobbing and moaning after being scolded.
2. As the guests began to arrive, I set the cream puffs on the table and stood back looking at them.
3. In winter, after the leaves fall, I hate the mountains.
4. Dicey was up and dressed, washed and fed, and out the door, with the day's work outlined in her head, all before the sun rose.
5. After the harvest and before Thanksgiving day, the boy or father took a hammer with a homemade handle, went to the flat rock, and cracked as many walnuts as could be kerneled in a night.
Ideas for possible minilessons/microteaching:
2. Andrews' LEA
Chapter 3
The main takeaway that I really liked in Chapter Three was that language is a social event. This means that students need to actively talk in the classroom! I think this really relates back to the point from the Peterson article. We can't teach from trite examples in a workbook or language textbook. Students need to how to use language in their real lives. It's hard to see the application from an example of a situation that they will probably never find themselves in. I like that Andrews points out how adolescents see school as a social event. If a teacher can harness all of this social power into a positive way, like learning language, they will have a powerful tool when planning lessons. That teacher can count on being able to have discussions with his/her students and spontaneous interactions that will help lead to truths and lessons about language.
Chapter 5
I chose Chapter Five because in Dr. Reaser's class I found words and word formation extremely interesting. It's cool how we can transform words like google and imdb (internet movie database) from a noun naming a website into a verb that means the action of using the website. There is also a word formation process called coinage. This describes where a word naming a specific product becomes generalized to describe every product that is similar. For example, many people call all types of lip balm, Chapstick, where Chapstick is actually a brand name. People have generalized chapstick and made it into a new word. This is also true of tupperware (plastic container - primarily for food), kleenex (facial tissue), and expo (dry erase marker).
Exploration: Variant Stress
CONduct/conDUCT - The first is a noun; second is a verb.
conTENT/CONtent - The first word is a mood; the second is a noun.
conTRACT/CONtract - The first is a verb; second is a noun.
EXploit/exPLOIT - First is an noun; second is a verb.
subJECT/SUBject - The first is a verb; second is a noun.
PERfume/perFUME - The first is a noun; the second is a verb.
conVICT/CONvict - The first is a verb; the second is the noun.
PREsent/preSENT - The first is a noun; the second is a verb.
After examining these word pairs, I began to realize that each word in the pair was a noun and the other was a verb. I found it interesting that the nouns were all words where the emphasis lies on the first syllable. The verbs were all words with the emphasis on the second syllable.
3. Sentence Composing: Sentence Expanding
p. 98 Practice 2
1. At the funeral, a woman sang.
2. With enthusiasm, warriors on high stilts beat upraised swords against their shields.
3. Outside of the house and with trepidation, the boy followed the do, whose anxious pace slowed from age as they went.
4. Mary asked no more questions but waited in the darkness of her corner, muttering.
5. A large woman, groaning, got out and waddled over to them.
6. Ima Dean, with a huge bag of yellow and red wrapped candies, was sitting on the floor sniffing and inspecting them.
7. They were standing there in front of the loed door in the nearly empty plane, shivering, when the man...arrived, skipping inside.
8. He walked on, pursued by a pack of first graders.
9. Plagued by tears, he held his temples desperately with both hand sand was wretchedly sick.
10. He was a broad, bandy-legged little man with a walrus mustache, square hands, slumped over like a dead tree and wracked with nervous tremors.
p. 103
1. We passed two children, sobbing and moaning after being scolded.
2. As the guests began to arrive, I set the cream puffs on the table and stood back looking at them.
3. In winter, after the leaves fall, I hate the mountains.
4. Dicey was up and dressed, washed and fed, and out the door, with the day's work outlined in her head, all before the sun rose.
5. After the harvest and before Thanksgiving day, the boy or father took a hammer with a homemade handle, went to the flat rock, and cracked as many walnuts as could be kerneled in a night.